It’s that time of year again. With the Edmonton Oilers both a) out of playoff contention and b) chock-a-block with eager young players with Canadian birth certificates, Hockey Canada has included several prominent Oilers in its first wave of recruits for the World Senior Hockey Championships. Star forwards Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle along with netminder Devan Dubnyk have all accepted invitations to the event which will take place in Sweden and Finland from May 3-19.

At this moment these three appear to be the only confirmed invitees, although presumably a preliminary list will be issued soon. Time is of the essence this year due to the lateness of the NHL schedule after the lockout. Canada’s first tournament game will take place just 6 days after the Oilers wrap up their season next Saturday. It follows that Team Canada will be made up almost entirely of players who missed the NHL playoffs without the usual influx of players eliminated in the first round.

Northern Alberta already has a strong presence on the team in the person of head coach Lindy Ruff, a native of Warburg. Ruff, who coached Canada to a silver medal in this event in 2009 and who also was an assistant coach on the Vancouver Olympic champions, brings an ultra-experienced voice into the room. Just as some folks touted 2012 coach Brent Sutter for the then-vacant Oilers job, Ruff too has his champions in these parts who think he should be considered for that same role in future. Being coach of Team Canada will do nothing to lower his profile, let’s put it that way.

One Oiler who won’t be involved in the Worlds this time around is centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who the club announced has already undergone successful surgery on his troublesome left shoulder. The procedure took place yesterday in Cleveland. RNH thus misses out on the rare opportunity to play in the World Juniors and Seniors in the same season, although of course he did play in the men’s tournament a year ago.

For Hall the opportunity to go to this tournament will be a first, after the youngster was injured each of the last two years and otherwsie occupied winning the Memorial Cup the two years prior to that. He has worn the red maple leaf in the past, of course, having won gold at the World Under-18 championships in 2008 and silver at the World Juniors in 2010.

For his linemate Eberle this is old hat. Still just 22, Eberle will be participating in his fourth consecutive World Seniors. In 19 previous games at the event, he has scored 9 goals and 7 assists. He too has previous experience at the 2008 U-18 champs and both the 2009 and 2010 World Junior, greatly enhancing his reputation at each event. Overall Eberle has played 38 games for Team Canada, posting an impressive 27-25-52. With such a track record of success, Eberle is surely the most popular Oiler among Canadian fans of other NHL teams.

Devan Dubnyk will be attending his eighth international tournament for Canada, including four World Seniors in a row. Unlike Eberle, Dubnyk has had to bide his time on the bench, appearing in just three games over the past three events combined. He was finally given a chance to take the crease in a meaningful way at this past December’s Spengler Cup, and responded by backstopping his team to the gold medal. Dubnyk is Hockey Canada’s ultimate good soldier and absolutely deserves a full crack at the #1 role this spring. Moreover, looking at Canadian goalies on other out-of-playoff teams leaves a fairly short list of alternatives, with Phoenix’s Mike Smith being the primary option. Even if Smith joins the team, Dubnyk will surely warrant a fair share of the workload.

As is our usual custom we will follow the fortunes of Team Canada here at the Cult of Hockey, with a special focus on Oilers players of whatever birth certificate who participate in the tourney. There remains a decent possibility that adtional Oilers will get the call as the roster is fleshed out, with Sam Gagner, Justin Schultz and possibly Nick Schultz all likely to warrant consideration.

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